Chennai: Parading Chennai as the Detroit of India may not be a good idea. “We made the mistake of making cities for cars rather than for people. It led to the death of Detroit. And today, Chennai seems to be on the same track,“ said Peter J. Park, planning director of the cities of Milwaukee and Denver, USA.
He said that the need of the hour was for people to be housed in such a manner that they had access to public transport: homes and commercial areas had to evolve around key transit points for this to happen.
The promotion of pedestrian walkways and bicycle lanes to reduce dependency on automobiles was more key than the building of elevated highways or subways. Shreya Gadepalli, regional director of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, said, “With 8 per cent of Chennaiites using cars today, at this rate we will need 18,000 km of additional lanes at a cost of Rs 36,000 crore in the next five years. Where is the space and the resource?” Chennai, which is at the cusp of automobile growth now, is lucky to have projects, such as Metro Rail and MRTS, Park said.
“Building strong feeder networks that give people commuting choices and ensuring quality urban development alongside make for a city’s infrastructural success,” he pointed out.
Park suggested that the floor space index (FSI) norms for buildings in the city should be focusing on their built-up designs that call for no boundary walls and staying open to streets to make the city a safer place for its citizens.
